Knowledge, practice and attitudes regarding antibiotics use among Lebanese dentists.

OBJECTIVES: Explore antibiotic use, assess conformity with evidence-practice guidelines, and describe knowledge and attitudinal factors among Lebanese dentists. METHODS: National cross-sectional telephonic survey, using a standardized questionnaire addressing demographic, educational and professional data, usual antibiotics prophylactic and curative prescription pattern and influential factors, knowledge concerning antibiotics use in selected patient-populations, and attitude regarding antimicrobial resistance. Analyses used descriptive statistics, and bivariate analysis to observe predictors of higher knowledge. RESULTS: the overall response rate for the study was around 21%. 322 dentists participated. On average, 17.51% of consultations resulted in antibiotic use; previous antibiotic experience mostly influenced prescriptions (81.3%). Referral of pregnant and lactating women and cardiac patients, when antibiotics are needed, was high (26.9%, 28.5% and 79.4%, respectively). Macrolides were the dominant first-line antibiotics in penicillin allergy (47.4%). Penicillins were most common for pregnant and lactating women. Penicillins (95.0%), 2g (63.9%), and 1 hour pre-procedure (34%) were the main components of prophylaxis for cardiac patients. Prophylactic and curative use varied widely; few dentists exhibited guideline-conform prescriptions. Mean knowledge scores of prophylaxis for cardiac and non-cardiac patients, and antibiotics' side effects were predominantly poor (46.75±14.82, 39.21±33.09 and 20.27±18.77, respectively over 100). Practicing outside Beirut, undergraduate qualification in Lebanon, and post-graduate qualification predicted higher knowledge. 75.9% acknowledged the contribution of dentistry-based prescribing to antibiotic resistance and 94.7% knew at least one cause of resistance. CONCLUSIONS: Dentists show positive attitude towards antimicrobial resistance. Yet, they lack uniformity in antibiotic stewardship. Poor knowledge and guideline-incongruent prophylactic and therapeutic prescribing are observed. Development of targeted interventions is needed to promote judicious antibiotic use within Lebanese dentistry.

Frequently Asked Questions about Vital Tooth Whitening.

Improving patients' aesthetics is an important request in daily practice. Tooth whitening is a treatment option available for improving aesthetics. This paper will pose questions asked by our patients on bleaching techniques and outcomes and offer appropriate up-to-date answers. Clinical relevance: This paper addresses the most important questions raised by patients and colleagues concerning vital tooth whitening (VTW).

SOPROLIFE system: an accurate diagnostic enhancer.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate a light-emitting diode fluorescence tool, the SOPROLIFE light-induced fluorescence evaluator, and compare it to the international caries detection and assessment system-II (ICDAS-II) in the detection of occlusal caries. METHODS: A total of 219 permanent posterior teeth in 21 subjects, with age ranging from 15 to 65 years, were examined. An intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was computed to assess the reliability between the two diagnostic methods. RESULTS: The results showed a high reliability between the two methods (ICC = 0.92; IC = 0.901-0.940; P < 0.001). The SOPROLIFE blue fluorescence mode had a high sensitivity (87%) and a high specificity (99%) when compared to ICDAS-II. CONCLUSION: Compared to the most used visual method in the diagnosis of occlusal caries lesions, the finding from this study suggests that SOPROLIFE can be used as a reproducible and reliable assessment tool. At a cut-off point, categorizing noncarious lesions and visual change in enamel, SOPROLIFE shows a high sensitivity and specificity. We can conclude that financially ICDAS is better than SOPROLIFE. However SOPROLIFE is easier for clinicians since it is a simple evaluation of images. Finally in terms of efficiency SOPROLIFE is not superior to ICDAS but tends to be equivalent with the same advantages.